Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has not consulted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her presidential ambitions, and the two were not even on speaking terms leading up to her January campaign announcement, The New York Times reports.

The two Democrats once had a "close relationship," the Times notes, and Gillibrand has said that Clinton is the reason she decided to pursue a career in politics. Gillibrand was chosen to serve the remainder of Clinton's Senate term when Clinton became Secretary of State in 2009.

But according to this report, the relationship has "deteriorated" ever since Gillibrand said in 2017 that former President Bill Clinton should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. At the time, Politico reported that Clinton's allies were "buzzing with confusion" and had "speculated about whether her intention was to distance herself from the Clintons ahead of a 2020 presidential run, or whether she had misspoken." Gillibrand announced last month that she had formed an exploratory committee and is pursuing a run for president.

A number of Democratic presidential hopefuls have met with Clinton in recent weeks, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the Times reports. But not Gillibrand. The two are reportedly supposed to meet "soon," however. "I value her counsel," said Gillibrand last month. "I hope I will be able to earn that in the future." Brendan Morrow

Could House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) actually be in danger of losing her bid to become House speaker?

That possibility became a bit more real on Monday when 16 Democrats released a letter formally saying they would not vote for Pelosi. While these Democrats say in their letter they are "thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service," they say they are "committed to voting for new leadership," arguing that "Democrats ran and won on a message of change," The Washington Post reports. The letter is signed by 11 current members of Congress and five members elect, although two of them haven't won their races yet, and one of them, Ben McAdams, is currently losing to his Republican opponent, Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah).

Assuming Democrats end up with 233 seats in the House as expected, Pelosi could afford to lose 15 Democratic votes, as she needs a total of 218 to become speaker. There are some additional Democrats who haven't signed the letter but may vote against Pelosi, HuffPost reports. But if McAdams loses his race, and no one else votes against Pelosi other than the Democrats who signed this letter, she would win.